Suddenly
by Eldunari Liduen
Summary: Rose Tyler and the Doctor are finally getting a chance to live their lives together- but how exactly will that work out? Neither of them are the same person that they last saw and traveled with. Rose Tyler- defender of the Earth- is working for Torchwood while the Doctor tries to come to terms with his new life. Happy endings don't always come easily.


Rose rolled over in her bed on the second floor of the Tyler mansion, blankets wrapped snugly around her as she glanced over at the alarm clock on her nightstand with bleary eyes. 10am. Suddenly, she was up like a shot- knowing that she was going to be late for her assignment at Torchwood. Dressing for work as quickly as she could- t-shirt, black pants, trainers—Rose was just about to bolt out of the house when she saw a piece of paper taped to her bedroom door.

_Rose,_

_Take the day off today. Show him around the place._

_Dad_

It was then that the events of the previous day came crashing back. The Doctor. Daleks. Reality Bomb. Bad Wolf Bay.

And him.

Sitting down on the edge of her canopy bed, Rose let her mind wander back to Bad Wolf Bay. Her mother was on the phone to her father- well, adoptive father at least- asking him to send someone from Torchwood over with the jet. No, not the zeppelin those made her nauseous. No, she didn't care that jets were less common in this reality and would draw more attention, the zeppelin still made her nauseous and she refused to come home on that silly thing.

At that point she and…the Doctor, apparently, had taken a seat on a bench just outside a little shop near the bay. Tiny little place that sold little more than sunblock, disposable cameras, and snacks- and a very limited selection at that. Didn't matter much to the Doctor, though. He'd muttered something about post-regenerative like cravings while she'd paid for a bag of crisps and a large-sized Milky Way. Happily, of course, but her mind kept wandering back to the Doctor- the other Doctor who was back in his own parallel. Without her.

The Doctor, of course, had things on his mind as well. He'd known what was going to happen as soon as his Time Lord counterpart got back to their proper parallel. Even amongst the celebration in the TARDIS once the Earth was back in its proper place in the sky he'd caught himself and the other Doctor looking at Donna, knowing her time was running short. Of course, he'd been able to forget that for a while. Finally being able to admit what he felt for one Rose Tyler. He was here. With her.

Of course, now that everything had settled down a bit, his mind had wandered back to Donna and her inevitable fate. Even more inevitable now that everything had been revealed. He could only hope that he-that is, his counterpart- wouldn't travel alone. He knew what that was like and he knew how they were when they'd lost someone.

Both thus occupied with their own thoughts, silence had reigned for the majority of the wait for the car to bring them to the airport. Mercifully, the drive was short enough. Security gave them no trouble- despite the Doctor having no personal identification. One of the small perks of working for this parallels' version of Torchwood. Of course something would have to be done about that sooner rather than later, but for the moment, the three boarded the jet to make the journey back home.

The ride back to London had been nice, though. Pete had had the forethought to tell the staff to make sure a bunch of bananas was at the ready in the small kitchen area onboard the jet. They'd talked, but talked about nothing. Planets the Doctor had been to recently, what this parallel's Torchwood had been up to, anything that didn't have to do with the here and now.

It had been late when they'd finally arrived back at the Tyler mansion, a long day for all involved. Well, any day filled with Daleks and saving the whole of creating from them would be a long day. Much too tired to do more than crawl into bed, Rose had given the Doctor's hand- that ridiculous, impossible hand- one last squeeze before climbing up the stairs to her room.

With a sigh, Rose removed her trainers, much preferring to walk around the house in her sock feet. Throwing her hair into a messy bun and changing back into her pajama bottoms, she soon made her way downstairs, looking to make herself a cup of morning tea before finding the Doctor. They wouldn't be able to ignore how much their lives were going to change for much longer, but she definitely needed some tea first.

Flipping on the lights in the small kitchenette just down the hall from her room, Rose was greeted with a highly unusual sight: the Doctor, completely and totally asleep in one of the chairs at the small table, his upper half resting on the table surrounded by bits and pieces of various electronics. Biting her lip to keep from laughing, she put the kettle on and quietly set about making tea for the both of them. By the looks of it, the Doctor had had a long night. A sleeping Doctor was a rare thing, indeed. When she'd first started travelling with him- years ago now, though it seemed more distant than it was- it'd become a sort of game. Try as she might, she had been unable to catch the Doctor even nodding off. Even in the earliest hours of the morning, the Doctor had always been wide awake- citing Gallifreyan physiology for his lesser need of sleep.

Rose set a steaming mug of tea in front of the Doctor, placing it so that if he moved the arm his head was resting on, it wouldn't upset the mug. She sat down opposite him, glancing over the various electronics he had gutted for some yet unknown purpose. Slowly, but surely, the scent of tea brought the Doctor back around to consciousness. Squinting against the lights as he opened his eyes, he muttered a semi-intelligible "Morning."

"Morning," she smiled. "Long night?"

"Erm…I suppose," he said, sitting up and taking his tea in his hands. Stifling a yawn, the Doctor asked, "What time is it?"

"Just past ten."

"That late?"

"Late? That's sleeping in for me," she teased with a soft smile.

"Well, late for me," he shrugged, taking a sip of the tea Rose had made for him. Just the way he liked it. "Not normally much of a sleeper."

"Does it have anything to do with being… Well, being…." she trailed off, unsure of how exactly he felt about it.

"Part human? Yeah, probably," he nodded, rubbing the side of his face. It was…different, to put it lightly. Having just a singular heart beating in his chest was just one of the few differences this body had, or so it would seem.

"So," Rose said, almost always knowing when the subject needed to be changed, "what were you working on? Seems like quite the project."

"Sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said, picking up what looked to be the start of the lower half of the device he was rarely without. "Didn't leave myself one so I figured I'd make one. Shouldn't be too difficult. Might even be able to add a few things in there if I can find the right parts."

"Mmm," she responded, watching him over the rim of her mug as she took another sip of her tea.

The Doctor looked up at Rose from his work, giving Rose a small smile. She dropped her gaze, glancing down at the floor. "Is s-" he started, but was cut off by the ring of a mobile.

"Hold that thought," she said, reaching into her pockets and placing a very familiar-looking ear piece in her ear. "Go." Noting the look of concern on the Doctor's face, she covered the mouth piece for a moment and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, harmless now." For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the unclear words of the person on the other end of the line. "Really?" Rose asked, a look of intrigue passing over her face. "I mean I sort of… Well, if it's that important, fine. Yeah, I'll be right over.

"What was that all about?" the Doctor asked, the concern now joined by confusion.

"Torchwood," she explained, standing up from her seat at the table. "Dad was going to give me the day off but something's come up. Coming?"

* * *

I know that fics dealing with the Doctor and Rose's life after the events of Journey's End are as probably as plentiful as the number of times Rory has died, but I did want to try my hand at it. It's something I've been wanting to explore for awhile- how much Rose has changed since the events of Doomsday and the Doctor having to cope with being unable to travel (at least for the time being) and getting used to his very human body. Please note that at no time will there be explicit sexual content in this story. I know that some people look for that, but it is simply something I am not comfortable writing. I also make no promises to how often this will be updated, but I will try my best. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!

Also to avoid confusion: This work is being uploaded both here and on AO3 (and possibly Whofic haven't decided yet). Just so you know.


End file.
